If you spend days, weeks, months, years telling people they are under threat, that their country has been stolen from them, that they have been betrayed and sold down the river, that their birthright has been pilfered, that their problem is they’re too slow to realise any of this is happening, that their problem is they’re not sufficiently mad as hell, then at some point, in some place, something or someone is going to snap. And then something terrible is going to happen.

Enough of this. I want back the country in which I thought I lived until this referendum came along. The one where, whilst debate was always been boisterous and forth-right, it was not (outside Northern Ireland) violent or bare-facedly dishonest. The monstrous dishonesty and xenophobia that the Brexit campaign has unleashed must be put back in its box.

5 comments:

The monstrous dishonesty and xenophobia that the Brexit campaign has unleashed must be put back in its box.

Mr. Cameron's (and other wannabe tacticians') responsibility for letting this "referendum" happen isn't small. But neither they, nor the "Brexit" advocates, should be blamed for the murder of Mrs. Cox. The responsibility for the crime rests with the perpetrator (provided that he's basically sane).

But I don't think this is all just about Brexit. And btw, my bet is that a majority, maybe small, but probably by a wider margin than expected now, will vote for staying in the EU.

That, if that's how it's going to work, will be part of the solution, but not necessarily of the healing. Because many of those who are going to change their minds in favor of staying in will do so under what they consider EU and "elite" threats, not reason.

Absolutely. He had a choice. He chose the referendum. He chummed up to party colleagues in parliament who demanded one, rather than telling them that it was their job to make these decisions, and that they should get back to work.

@JR - Had Cameron not promised the referendum, he would likely be finding parliament ungovernable now, or may not have won the last election. As much as I dislike the way this referendum has gone, I can't quite bring myself to say that it was unnecessary given the sentiment that a vote should be held.

At any rate, a win for Remain still offers the prospect of finally putting this issue to bed. Whilst the SNP did not give up after the Scottish Referendum, it has been much more circumspect and opinion has been steadily drifting towards the unionist side since the result. I expect that a Remain win will be greeted with a sigh of relief by many in the Conservative party, even those on the Leave side, and a renewed focus on the 2020 election (though Jeremy Corbyn's leadership of the Labour party makes that all but a foregone conclusion).

Of course, if by this time tomorrow we are on our way out of the EU, Cameron will be out, and we'll be heading for a world of hurt economically.

Had Cameron not promised the referendum, he would likely be finding parliament ungovernable now, or may not have won the last election.

In the end, I can't judge your country's government. That's your job as a citizen of the UK. But I can judge what I see as politicians' qualities or non-qualities in my country.

Gerhard Schröder lost his chancellorship, because he did something essential - as he saw it. I see it differently, but that's a different story. He "reformed" the welfare state, and he was voted out for that.

And Merkel may get voted out for her policy on refugees.

Do be willing to put ones' position - including ones own job - to a vote and to lose, if necessary, can be both ethical and practical.

I seem to remember that you said after Jeremy Corbyn's election as Labour leader that you wereworried that the Tories could be in disarray by the next general elections, and that would pave the way for Corbyn.

Yes, maybe Cameron would have lost the most recent general elections to the Milliband Labour party. But wouldn't that have meant one headache less for you?